Fun Find: Kokeshi Doll Gift Bags

I have been seeing kokeshi dolls pop up everywhere these days. I just came across these kokeshi doll gift bags and I had to share them with you. They are absolutely adorable & super affordable. I could see them incorporated into so many different types of parties...a children's tea party, a sushi party, an around the world event. They could be used simply as a party favor bag, or why not set them up as a collection on a mantlepiece, or have them line the middle of a table serving as a centerpiece. You could play off the fun colors in the design of the bags with a color palette of soft pink, brighter pink, a soft buttery yellow and an accent of black.  I love that they are made of 100% recycled hand made paper consisting of cotton fabric remnants with traditional silk screen printing. Pretty amazing.

Oh so natural

I really wish I could say that Atelier Joya posts about three blogs a week!!! We certainly have enough ideas and photos to do so but where does the time go??? Lisa and I have been so busy with all the inquiries coming our way that something had to give. However our net motto: blogging has to fit into our schedule :

Here is a little sneak preview of a really fun natural wedding up in the wine country, stay tuned.

Sketch to Creation

Our client loved cupcakes and she loved silver. Incorporating silver tiered dessert trays, mirrored glass risers and lots of lush white florals we created an elegant display for all of the tasty treats. It's always fun to look at the original sketch and compare it to the final creation.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

We had the opportunity to design flowers and a red ribbon chandelier for a corporate hotel ribbon cutting ceremony. Splashes of white, red and dark brown added to the modern, sleek and sophisticated look the client wanted. It was a great success and all were happy.

White and Green

 

Always fun to play with bear grass! In this arrangement I used bear grass, succulents, hydrangea, snow ball and eucalyptus pods.

Playful Modern Mantle Decor

 

Priska created such a fun mantle display for a spring installation. The color palette of soft gray, bright yellow, and a soft coral color made all of us smile. :)

Spring is not over yet!!

I am starting to think that I have a Ranunculus obsession! Whatever floral creation I come across, I can't seem to keep my hands off of those beautiful flowers!! I know the season for them will end soon but Spring is not over yet and I will keep creating Ranunculus arrangements until then.
Priska Kaspar Jayme :)

Happy Easter!!!

It was so much fun making our Easter Tree!!!

As many of you know Priska (my biz partner) is from Switzerland. It's always fun to hear the different ways that she celebrates the holidays back home and to see how she's continuing some of the traditions with her family here. Decorating easter trees is one of their festive holiday customs. The "trees" are a collection of branches in a fun vase of some sort adorned with beautifully decorated handblown eggs. What's wonderful about this "tree" is that it's something that you can keep for years to come. Each year you can add more beautiful eggs and it's also an item you can have on display for the month or entire spring season. We got busy and made some fun glittery eggs as well as some decoupaged floral eggs and ended up with a "shabby chic" easter tree.

Bouquet of the Month!

 

This is the time of the year for one of THE most popular wedding flowers ever! Although I started seeing some peonies here and there in the last month, they are finally coming in strong. The flower market is filled with thousands of them in beautiful shades of pink, white and coral.

Due to our latest clients request to give this traditional bouquet a bit of a modern twist we did so by adding some bright orange ranunculus (another Spring favorite).

Very simple but stunning! I officially declare this bouquet that I have created as one of my favorites!

Petite Butterfly Nosegay DIY project

Items Needed:

10-15 ranunculus                  
black spray paint

8-10 poppy seeds                  
super glue

floral wire                            
floral tape

fishing line                            
black paper

butterfly hole puncher          
black spray paint

1. To create this charming little bouquet you need some wire, floral tape, fishing line, black paper, a butterfly hole puncher, super glue and black spray paint.

2. Buy 1-2 bunches of white Ranunculus at the local flower or farmers market, along with some dried poppy seeds.

3. Because the handle of this little bouquet is supposed to be very delicate you should wire and tape each of the ranunculus and poppy seeds individually. For the ranunculus, you want to start by pushing the wire through the head or stem and bend the wire down.

4. Wrap the ranunculus stem and wire with floral tape

5. Cut the poppy seed stems to about an inch and spray paint them black. Once they are dry wrap the wire around the stem, then wrap floral tape around the entire stem and wire.

 6. Use the butterly hole puncher (available at an arts and crafts store) to punch several butterlies out of black paper. Attach pairs of butterlies to the fishing line (back to back) using dots of glue. 















7. Now you are ready to take all the wired and taped florals and poppy seeds. Put them together in a small bouquet. Take floral tape and wrap all the wires together. Cut the handle of the bouquet  to the preferred length.

8. Lay the strand of butterflies loosely over the bouquet using a few dots of glue to attach.

9. You did it!! Congratulations!!!

Decorative Bottles with Knob Bottle Toppers (how-to)

For the Inspiration to Reality photo shoot we created a Scotch Bar with a personal touch. Bottles were wrapped with twine or French striped ribbon to coordinate with the overall color palette of black and white. Knob toppers had a graphic element to them and were selected for their unique patterns and icons. Another special detail, the word “groom” written on one of the bottles, was added to designate the man’s drink of choice for the evening.

These bottle toppers could be custom tailored for all kinds of events and collected in an assortment of styles and colors. There is such a large selection of knobs on the market and the flea market is a great place to find these treasures.

Items needed:

Ribbons, twine or yarn (collect an assortment of ribbons or yarn that work well with your overall theme/color palette. Textures, patterns, stripes, dots…they are all fun to combine).

Scissors

Glue gun with glue stick or fabric glue

Bottles (these could all be the same style or an assortment of shapes/styles/colors)

Corks (make sure that the corks fit the bottle openings, you can always cut the corks down in size if needed)

Knobs (these could be all the same style or an assortment of shapes/styles/colors)

Step 1:

Select the assortment of ribbons/yarn/twine that you would like to wrap around the bottles. Place a dot of either hot glue or craft glue on one end of the ribbon. Secure ribbon to the bottle exactly where you would like it to be displayed. It can be fun to have a row of bottles with the ribbon displayed at exactly the same height for a more tailored look or positioned at a variety of heights for a more eclectic feel. 

Step 2:

Pull the ribbon taut and wrap completely around the bottle. Fold the ribbon for a finished edge and secure with another dot of hot glue or craft glue.

Step 3:

Select the assortment of knobs that you would like to use as the toppers. If you are going to write words on any of them, use a permanent sharpie pen and add before going on to the next step.

Step 4:

Holding the knob in one hand, screw it into the cork stopper. If you’d like, secure the knob to the cork with a dot of glue. If the screw is longer than the cork, you can shorten the screw with a small hacksaw.

Step 5:

Fill the bottles with your favorite beverage, candy, notes, etc., and add the knob topper.

Step 6:

Pick the perfect spot to display your bottles. Enjoy!!!

AJ on Martha Stewart & Style Me Pretty

We love, love, love Style Me Pretty & Martha Stewart, and were thrilled to see one of our weddings featured on both of their sites. Yay!!! This was one of our favorite weddings to design last year. It was so much fun. To see lots of fun photos click on these links:

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2010/03/09/napa-valley-wedding-for-the-brides-guide/

http://thebridesguide.marthastewartweddings.com/2010/03/style-me-pretty-real-wedding-sara-and-jonathan.html

Spring is in the Air

When daffodils start blooming you know that spring is in the air. They are such a happy flower and what's great is they are pretty inexpensive so you can get alot of bang for your buck. This is one of my favorite spring arrangements that Priska made for a little spring cheer.

Featured on Martha Stewart: How-to Create Yarn Heart

We're so excited to have a follow up article featured on Martha Stewart. They wanted us to share with them how to make the yarn heart we created for Jean & Devin's wedding. 

learn how to make this heart...

Atelier Joya featured on Martha Stewart

Photos by Sabine Scherer

We're super excited to finally get to share photos from a wedding we worked on last September. The wait was well worth it....we are featured on Martha Stewart. Yay!!! It's so much fun to see some of our work featured there.

This was such a great wedding to design. The client really wanted their wedding to feel handmade, crafted and unique. Their color palette was inspired from the golden gate bridge and it's surroundings. The blue of the sky, the teal of the bay and the reddish orange of the bridge. We used a combination of zinnias, dahlias, eucalyptus, olive, and celosia for all of the florals. Vintage mason jars wrapped in yarn, sea glass ball jars, vintage metal tins and red wooden buckets were all incorporated. Custom burlap linens bordered with poppy red fabric and tied with french ribbon adorned the pie table, ceramic pie stands in the perfect red displayed berry pies, and vintage grainsack linens served as coffee table runners. Red & white striped straws and craft paper placemats made the tablescape playful and napkins tied with detailed red & white striped twine were a perfect touch.

see more here...

Vintage Escort Card Display

             photos by Anna Kuperberg http://kuperberg.com/

This was one of our favorite escort card displays to design. Our client wanted a vintage, french feeling for her wedding. Our inspiration was the writing seen frequently on the windows in the cafes of Paris. We knew we wanted to use window panes and translate this design into the display.  After much hunting for the perfect windows, we found these at the flea market. Yay!!! Now you can see the end results. The client was super happy and guests were so excited to find their name on the display. These windows now reside in the the client's home. The perfect memory. 

Rainy Day Cheer

Photo by: Sabine Scherer (www.sabinescherer.com)

    We have been having so much rain here lately. It was the perfect day to organize lots of photos of last years events. When I came across these bright yellow zinnias I immediately smiled. Ahh...so fresh,     bright and cheery. I felt like I had seen a bit of sunshine, definitely the perfect fix for this rainy, cold day... hope you can find a ray of sunshine in your day!